Apple Cake - a Limousin Speciality

This moist, spicy apple cake is ideal to serve as a dessert at Les Trois Chenes Chambres d'hotes in the autumn. It makes use of the delicous, organic apples (they grow by themselves without any intervention from us at all!) that load our trees from September to December. This recipe includes walnuts, another autumn crop here. Many people have their own walnut trees and bags of nuts are offered here at this time. What could be more appropriate than to serve this seasonal, traditional Limousin speciality? well, to serve it on Limoge's famous white porcelain plates I suppose!

The apple can be traced back to Turkey and Iran - perhaps the real Garden of Eden?, and came to France with the Romans. They flourish in Limousin, the high plains being not so dissimilar from their original terrain. They were grown in the orchards of chateaux and monasteries, the gardens of cottages and in the hedgerows and, along with chestnuts and potatoes, formed the staple diet of the people of Limousin. At the turn of the century, apples were mostly used for cider, which was one method for preserving them through the winter, however, Limousin apples were renown for their keeping abilities. Our apples, if chosen carefully and wrapped and stored well will easily last until Christmas.

The development of the apple industry didn't begin until the 20 century with the improvement of transport, and at that time the range of varieties of apple grown widened. They were sent to Paris, Marsailles, Germany, England and North Africa. For more information have a look at the site Pomme de Limousin.

• 6 - 8 apples
• 1/4 pint / 200ml / ¹/₂ cup of sunflower oil, olive oil or similar
• 5 oz, 200 g / ²/₃ cup sugar
• 12 oz / 300g / 2 ³/₄ cups of sifted flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 level table spoon of cinnamon
• ¹/₈ pint / 1/₄ cup / 75ml orange or grapefruit juice
• 4oz / 125g / ¹/₂ cup walnuts roughly chopped (optional)
• 3 level teaspoons of baking powder
• a slurp of vanilla essence
• pinch of salt
• Icing sugar to dust when serving

I used a 7¹/₂ inch or 18cm diameter cake tin, 4 inches deep (11 cm), with a push-up bottom.

Peel, core and then chop the apples into chunks roughly about 1cm cubed. Put them into a bowl with the powdered cinnamon and stir until the apple is well coated. Set this aside.

The sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl and add the chopped nuts. In a separate bowl (I know - three bowls, lots of washing up but I promise you it is worth it!), put the eggs, sugar, vanilla and oil, and whisk well. Carefully mix the egg mixture into the flour a little at a time until you have a smooth paste. It should have a soft dropping consistency.

Oil your baking tin. I lined the base of mine with greaseproof paper, and I think this was a good idea. I then oiled the paper as well to be on the safe side.

If you want to line your cake tin have a look at this: How to Line a Cake Tin

Add half the apple to the mixture and stir gently, then put into the cake tin. Pour the rest of the apple in a layer on top and sprinkle with a little more sugar. The bake in the oven at gas mark 3 for one hour. Check the progress. If it is browning on the top but still not cooked in the centre (test this by prodding lightly or putting a skewer into it - if the skewer comes out clean, it is cooked), cover with foil to protect it.

When the cake is ready you should be able to smell it! Test again, don't overcook or you will lose that fabulously moist texture we are aiming for. (You will soon notice that I don't do light, fluffy cakes that melt in the mouth - give me a nice, heavy, moist, cake any day!!)

Gently slip a knife around the edges and turn the cake upside down onto your hand, remove the paper then cool on a baking tray.

Limousin is famous for it's apples, it's Limousin beef cattle and for Limoges porcelain. At Les Trois Chenes I've chosen Limoges porcelain because it's a local product with a long and interesting history, but also because it's beautiful, fine to the point of being translucent, but very, very strong. Find out more about Limoges porcelain:

White Plates of Limoges, Princess of Porcelain

Where to buy Limoges Porcelain in Limousin, France

Limoges Porcelain Decorative Eggs for Easter

Limoges Porcelain Boxes - Pretty Rabbits for Easter

Limoges porcelain lamps

Variations

• Try pears instead of apples
• Add orange rind cut into thin strips
• Add crystallised ginger